Amy's return
by bhut
Summary: AU, comic-verse related. Amy has become a rat once more, but has no intention of staying this way any longer than she has to...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

 _Disclaimer: none of these characters are mine, but belong to Whedon and co._

 _Note: this story contains spoilers for the original series._

 _Once upon a time..._

Once upon a time, in an alley of the magic town, when strange shadows wiggle like worms and cry in fell voices that no throat can make, there was a sound akin to that made by a tearing cloth, and out came Amy Madison, in all of her naked glory and in a glorious wrath.

 _Some time earlier..._

Amy Madison was a rat once more. And she had been defeated, once more. The two elements appear to be going hand-in-hand more and more lately, she thought, but did not dwell on it, for she had hard time thinking: she was too angry.

Yes, she was Amy the Rat, but make that **Amy** the Rat, not Amy the **Rat** , and the universe seemed to be insisting that it was the other way around, and that was very annoying; in fact, it was so annoying, that Amy did not want to listen to the universe any more.

Instead, she concentrated on the switch in her mind that she used to switch between her human and rat forms – right now it appeared to be jammed. Of course it would be jammed, for Nadira had used magic to switch Amy back into a rat – or was it Magic?

Amy Madison didn't care: she was Amy, maybe **Amy** the Rat, certainly not Amy the **Rat** , and the universe could go hang itself if it were to insist otherwise – and the insist it certainly did. Strange thoughts whispered in strange voices in her mind, suggesting that it was appropriate for her to be a rat, for she was a crummy example of a human being to begin with...

Amy did not care. She was not going to be a rat – or **the** Rat, for that matter – anymore! Maybe she had lost – and she had lost, but so what? She could accept her defeat and move on without having four hairy legs and a hairless tail (not to mention the whiskers on her face that no sane woman would want to have), so there! She was Amy, maybe **Amy** the Rat, certainly not Amy the **Rat**.

The thoughts abated, though they still wormed through Amy's mind, suggesting now that per-haps Amy was a rat now for a reason? Maybe there was a lesson that she should learn, or have to learn, and afterwards, when she had learned it, she would become human again, probably with Nadira's help-

Amy did not care about a lesson. Amy did not care about any lesson. All that Amy cared about was becoming Amy once more, with two legs and arms, without any whiskers or body hair...ok, without any excessive body hair, let alone fur. And magic, or Magic, could go hang-

The thoughts abated, but then they continued to worm in through Amy's skull, mind, brain. They whispered that Amy's current predicament was the price for her sins; that this was how the world was going to run from now on – with Amy being a rat, rather than a human and a witch...

Amy did not care. Yes, she was aware that there was a price for everything – yes indeed! But she had no intention of it being her human shape and form. She had spent far too long not being a human, and so she had no intention of being a rat any more – certainly not involuntarily! She did not care what she was going to pay, whom she was going to anger, but she was not going to be a rat anymore! She was going back to being a human! She dug in her metaphorical heels into the allegorical pavement, bucked her loins (in a matter of speaking), and just shoved her mind, her body, her everything into her human shape.

And in an alley of the magic town, when strange shadows wiggle like worms and cry in fell voices that no throat can make, there was a sound akin to that made by a tearing cloth, and out came Amy Madison, in all of her naked glory and in a glorious wrath.

She looked around, took a deep breath, and sighed, (as she looked down onto herself). "There's going to be Hell to pay. There already **is** a Hell to pay, in a matter of speaking." She paused. "So what do I do know? Oh yes, Nadira!"

There were still strange, alien thoughts in Amy's brain, whispering in wormy voices about magic – or Magic? Amy ignored them – she may not be up to Willow Rosenberg's level (and it seems that she would never be, either), but she still knew things, thank you very much!

And so, buckling her metaphorical loins, but still gloriously naked, Amy Madison went forth to have her revenge...

 _TBC_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: see previous chapter._

 _Once upon a time..._

Once upon a time, the woman who was called Nadira had been a Vampire Slayer and thus it had been harder to sneak up on her than it would be on an average human – but that had been a long time ago. Nowadays the woman who was called Nadira was not a Vampire Slayer, but neither was she really a human, average or otherwise, so it all evened out. Nowadays the woman who was called Nadira was in part some sort of a strange magical entity, so it was still hard to sneak up on her.

Amy Madison did not even bother to try. Still human, still naked, she just ventured forth to Nadira's home, such as it was, and went inside.

"Hello, Amy," Nadira said her in usual, not-quite-there, semi-omnipotent, guru fashion before turning around and seeing that the other magic-user was back to human (albeit still naked). "You aren't a rat anymore? How?"

"Sheer anger and determination, the single-minded mental focus, all that shit," Amy said back calmly, before taking a swing at the other woman without any magic – just the commonplace, ordinary, physical violence. The blows came fast and hard – and Nadira was so initially startled, that Amy began to overpower her very easily, as a matter of fact, even though Nadira had been a Vampire Slayer, and Amy had not.

"I have no intention of being a rat ever again!" she snarled, even as she appeared to be trying to rearrange Nadira's facial features, and doing a rather successful job of it, too. "I have spent far too long being a rodent as it is! The first time – I was just trying to defend myself! Then - Willow briefly switches me to human and back – now this? I! Have had! Enough!"

"I'll say!" Angel (who had come to Nadira once more for a new and personal reason) suddenly grabbed Amy and slammed her none-too-gently against a wall, freeing Nadira in the process. "I don't know how you became human again-"

"I broke through," Amy said, matching Angel stare for stare, even though the vampire was in his game face. "I have spent months and years being a rat, and I have no intention of being once more, or ever again, for that matter. I don't even like rats, I don't even have any kinship with rats, and I don't even know why I had learned that ratting spell in the first place."

"Because you learn magic as you feel it – by rote, as if it was a machine," Nadira spoke, as she got up onto her feet, battered and bruised, but otherwise fine. "It isn't. It is a conscious entity that has its own ideas and choices-"

"I know, I got the concept," Amy growled out – her face didn't shift the way that a vampire's, or a werewolf's, face would shift while it changed, but it did change, as a matter of fact – "while I was changing back, it was there, right in my head, worming its thoughts and ideas into mine. Even now it stirs, out there, in the shadows."

There was a pause as Angel involuntarily released the ex-rat (and perhaps an ex-witch) while he and Nadira did look around. Nadira's place had never been too brightly illuminated from the start, but now the shadows seemed somewhat blurrier and shakier than the usual.

"It's angry," Amy continued, as she walked over to a table and picked-up a handheld mirror. "It wanted me to stay a rat. Well, bugger it! I would rather be anything else but that rodent."

Nadira shook her head. "I don't know why you're denying this, but a rat is in your genes now, Amy-"

"Yes, yes, some stupid rule or another, if you get hit with a transformation spell enough times, it sticks. If it is one and the same, you become something like a werewolf, or a swan maiden, or something," Amy growled. "If it is a different spell – well, that's not the point. My point is that I am through with it, I have ripped through it, and I am done. I am not doing that shapeshifting shtick as a rat ever again. I mean, who do you think you are? Zatanna?"

Nadira began to reply, but Angel tuned her out. There was something in the air, some sort of a new smell, but Angel was never good with smells, no more so than an average vampire.

...Plus, there was Amy, who did not smell like her old self either. Of course, considering that she was still naked, and looking rather good at that, it was not really his nose that the ensouled vampire aimed at her, either.

"...Amy," he shook his head, getting back to the matter at hand. "What have you done?"

"Your friend – or her boss, I don't care which – decided that it would be better for me to be a rat. I decided that I do not give a rat's – mine – ass about their decision and will not be a rat. And so I am not-"

"This isn't how it works," Nadira began, but Amy interrupted her:

"Fine, then I won't work with 'it' anymore," she shook her head. "There's always a price, and if this is mine for not being a rat, I'll pay it." She shook her head and began to walk towards her exit, before pausing briefly. "Mind you," she turned and faced the other woman, "if you ever want to start the next round, I'll be ready. I do not know if you are some sort of a hierophant or something like that – I kicked you now, and I will kick you then. See you – or not!"

And she left.

Angel blinked and thought about Amy being naked and walking through the magic town after sunset. For the obvious reasons, it bothered him – but not as much as to forget the matter at hand. "Are you going to be fine?" he turned to Nadira.

"Yes," Nadira said in a more listless voice than Angel had heard her use in a long time. It must have showed on his face, for the ex-Vampire Slayer relented and gave him a longer reply. "Oh, just go, walk out the door – you'll be needed more out there than in here."

"You sure? If necessary, just call me-"

"Oh, just go. I need-"

It was for the first time in a long while that Angel saw Nadira as anything other than less confident. Feeling rather less confident himself because of that, he left.

 _TBC_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: see chapter 1._

Once Angel went outside, he found Amy standing not too far away from the building, gazing at the night sky. For the obvious reasons, the night-lights in the magic town were not too predict-able, but Amy did not appear to be bothered by the shaky lights any more than Angel himself did; she just stood there, clearly thinking about what to do.

"So," Angel said carefully, (he was still feeling rather apologetic towards Amy regarding her involvement with Twilight), "what are you planning to do now?"

"I have no idea," Amy confessed as easily as if she was telling Angel the time of the night. Then she caught the look on Angel's face and decided to give him a better explanation: "Look, I meant what I've said back there. I know that I do not have the best record of accomplishment as a minion, friend, whomever, but this time – I did not lie. I really just came over to explain to the little miss ex-Vampire Slayer that her joke with turning me back into a rat is over, gone, finished. I beat it into her – I hope," she added, with a thoughtful pause, "but now, in any case, it's over, and I've got nothing left on my plate."

"Well, your bottles of magic are confiscated and your pixies are scattered-"

"Yes, yes," Amy shrugged, "but that's just secondary – I've meant what I've said about 'it' too – I shan't be casting any more spells anymore, if that what it takes for me to remain a human." She paused and added, somewhat ruefully: "You wouldn't know if anyone is interesting in hiring an ex-witch, would you?"

Angel groaned and twitched. His ingrained sense of helping the needy had acted up – again. "Fine, you can stay at my place, but this is the last chance. One backslide, and it's over."

"Acknowledged," Amy replied with a flip of her hair. "Let's go."

"...You're still naked," Angel decided that it was time to point out the obvious.

"It's magic town. So what? If anyone asks, I'll just say that I was attacked by the giant moths."

"...What giant moths?" Angel had to ask.

"Those ones," Amy jabbed her finger into the night sky. Angel looked up, and saw at least one – or maybe actually several, for it was quite high and the sky was quite foggy – winged shape with wings that just weren't bird- or bat-like, and besides, the size was more like that of a car – much too big for any urban fowl.

"...From where did they come from? How many?.." Angel asked the first questions that came to his mind.

"Oh, they've been here since the beginning, ever since the magic town came to be," Amy shrugged. "The roaches breed them, BTW."

"More shapeshifters?" Angel tried to remember the conversation that Amy held with Nadira.

"No... I don't think so," Amy admitted. "The roaches are human-sized rather than humanoid, and there are rumors about them...but no, no shape-shifting."

"...Why would human-sized cockroaches breed car-sized moths? Or butterflies, for that matter?"

"So that they would be able to get around. Sure, they got their own wings, but they just aren't very good at flying on their own power, you know?"

Angel pinched his nose. Whenever he felt that he was beginning to get a grip on how things in the magic town worked, the place would throw him a curveball, as it had just now. Ah well, when life gave you lemons, you made lemonade. And when it apparently gave you a witch – or an ex-witch – with a nudity fetish... right.

"Let's just go home, Amy," he said quietly. "And remember – this is your last chance. Don't blow it."

"Acknowledged," Amy nodded calmly, and off the pair of them walked into the night.

End


End file.
